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Overview

[China-Venezuela Joint Fund] ZTE and Venezuela's Movilnet establish joint venture for cell phone factory in Falcon state for 19.5 million USD [Linked to Record ID#35985]

Commitment Year2009Country of ActivityVenezuelaDirect Recipient Country of IncorporationVenezuelaSectorCommunicationsFlow TypeLoan

Status

Project lifecycle

Pipeline: Commitment

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Feb 1, 2009

Geospatial footprint

Map overview

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The Chinese Government assisted with the construction of a cell phone factory in the state of Falcon. More detailed locational information can be found at https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/207231100

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownership

Funding agencies

State-owned Policy Banks

  • China Development Bank (CDB)

Receiving agencies

State-owned Banks

  • Banco de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Venezuela (BANDES)

Implementing agencies

State-owned companies

  • Zhongxing Technologies Energy (ZTE-e)

State-owned Funds

  • China-Venezuela Joint Fund

Collateral providers

State-owned companies

  • Pétroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA)

Loan desecription

[China-Venezuela Joint Fund] ZTE and Venezuela's Movilnet establish joint venture for cell phone factory in Falcon state for 19.5 million USD

Interest typeUnknown

Collateral

The borrowing was collateralized with PDVSA income from daily oil sales (in quantities not less than 230,000 barrels per day) to China National United Oil Corporation (ChinaOil), which was deposited in a collection (escrow) account at China Development Bank (CDB). Banco de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Venezuela (BANDES) opened and maintained a USD-denominated collection (escrow) account with CDB into which all proceeds from oil export sales -- under an offtake agreement (petroleum sales and purchase contract) between PDVSA and ChinaOil -- were deposited for the purposes of (a) making regular debt service payments to CDB, and (b) maintaining a minimum cash collateral balance. The borrower was required to maintain a minimum cash balance in the collection (escrow) account equivalent to no less than 1.3 times the aggregate amount of principal, interest, and any other amount due during the next repayment period. If the minimum cash balance was not maintained, then PDVSA would be responsible for increasing the amount of fuel and/or crude oil to be delivered under the petroleum sales and purchase contract to ensure that (a) the actual debt service coverage ratio was maintained at the required level at the required times; and (b) the amount in the New Collection Account was sufficient to meet the required balance requirements set out in the facility agreement. If PDVSA did not do so, then BANDES was responsible for transferring funds to the CDB-controlled bank account to 'remedy any shortfall.' The lender also had the ability to block the debtor from withdrawing the funds.

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

In February 2009, Hugo Chavez and Chinese Vice-president Xi Jinping signed an agreement for the construction of a cellphone factory. For the construction, China’s ZTE and Venezuela’s Movilnet established a joint venture called VTELCA of which China holds a 15% stake. This project received 19.5 million USD of funding from the Fondo Pesado (China-Venezuela Joint Financing Fund). Unclear how much comes from China exactly. In 2009, Chavez publicized the ZTE C366 “el Vergatario”, which was produced to show the technological capacity of the plant. Starting in 2010, Chavez pledged to produce a million phones per year in addition to battery chargers and batteries. In September of 2013, Vtelca produced the Android Vergatario, the third model with the android operating system of which it produces 4,000 units a day. China-Venezuela Joint Fund is party financed by China Development Bank. The total transaction amount of the project is $19.5 million but we don't know exactly how much is provided by China. The China-Venezuela Joint Fund receives contributions from China Development Bank and FONDEN, and it is administered by BANDES. See Record ID#58677 for more information on the fund. Additionally, decause this project was supported, at least in part, by the China-Venezuela Joint Fund/Fondo Estrategico Pesado (See #35985, #37528, #37838, #38163, 38316, and #38380), this project is marked as a resource-backed or commodity-backed loan.